Principles of rural sociology and interpersonal communication provide the foundation for a study of "Gullah" culture. The Gullahs are a group of African Americans living along the southwestern U.S. coastal territory. Gullah culture began to evolve with the enslavement of African people in the Sea Islands off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia,…

Discusses residual bilingualism as a means of identifying the nature, quantity, and distribution of Dutch-origin elements in the speech of different users of French in Brussels. Observations on code switching in a community of monoglots, bilinguals, and immigrants help provide a frame of reference for similar complex bilingual contexts elsewhere.…

Examines variations in current usage that pose problems in teaching Spanish relative pronouns. Discusses their treatment in first-year college textbooks, in the professional literature and in newspapers and magazines prose. Attempts to provide a description of the use of these pronouns applicable to classroom presentation. (MES)

Covering a 500-year span, this article traces the changes in and evolution of the Spanish language from its earliest written accounts in the eleventh century to the Spanish that was brought by the Conquistadores to the New World. (DS)

Advocates abandoning the all too common practice of requiring the mastery of standard English as a prerequisite for learning. (JT)

The differences between Pidgin Sign English and American Sign Language in simultaneity, or the visible presence of two or more linguistic units (manual or nonmanual) co-occurring, are demonstrated. Differences are exemplified in handshape-classifier pronouns, directional verbs, co-occurring manual signs, and nonmanual behavior. (PMJ)

Shows that the English names of meals are variously applied, according to geographical area and social class, as well as working hours and personal habits. (IFS/WGA)

Presents 41 German words and phrases that are used in Spanish today. Definitions are provided and examples of their use in Spanish texts are given. (NCR)

Proposes a pedagogy of French grammar which takes into account the varieties found in spoken French as distinct from those found in written French. (AM)

Outlines a model for teaching French whose goal is to approximate actual language behavior as opposed to the artificial models usually provided in textbooks. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Discusses the dilemma that language variation studies have caused concerning the choice of language variety to be used in language instruction, and outlines a taxinomic model for looking at language variation (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Analyzes the actual knowledge of French of Arabic-speaking and Portuguese immigrants with particular emphasis on their use of French verbs. The aim is to better prepare a methodology for the teaching of standard French to these workers. (Text is in French.) (TL)

An attempt to apply Blom's and Gumperz' model of code-switching to a small Swedish community in northern Sweden, Burtrask. The informants spoke standard Swedish, the Burtrask dialect, and a third variety which was a combination of the two. (CFM)

Reports the results of using techniques of historical-comparative linguistics to determine the extent to which American Sign Language (ASL) has influenced basic vocabulary in Modern Standard Thai Sign Language (MSTSL), and the relationship of MSTSL to sign language varieties used in Thailand prior to ASL influence. (15 references) (Author/CK)

Uses interview and telephone survey data to demonstrate that the merger of the vowels in words such as "cot" and "caught," traditionally considered a defining characteristics of the speech of western Pennsylvania, is well established in the mining towns of eastern Pennsylvania. Notes that the data indicate that the merger arose…